According to TechCrunch, an international coalition led by Europol just took down three major cybercrime operations in their latest “Operation Endgame” sweep. Police targeted the Rhadamanthys infostealer, Elysium botnet, and VenomRAT remote access trojan, seizing over 1,000 servers that contained “several million stolen credentials” from hundreds of thousands of infected computers. The main suspect behind VenomRAT was arrested in Greece on November 3, while the Rhadamanthys operator had access to more than 100,000 cryptocurrency wallets potentially worth millions. Rhadamanthys saw a dramatic spike after authorities took down the popular Lumma infostealer earlier this year, compromising over 12,000 victims in October alone and becoming “the largest information-stealer malware by volume.”
The perpetual game of cybercrime whack-a-mole
Here’s the thing about these takedowns: they’re necessary, but they’re fundamentally temporary. As one researcher put it, “We know that others will take their place.” When Lumma went down earlier this year, Rhadamanthys immediately filled the vacuum. It’s basically musical chairs for cybercriminals – when one tool gets taken out, they just move to whatever’s available and less known at the time.
And the numbers are staggering. We’re talking about hundreds of thousands of infected computers, millions of stolen credentials, and crypto wallets potentially worth millions. But what’s really concerning? “Many of the victims were not aware of the infection of their systems.” That’s the scary part – your computer could be part of this infrastructure right now and you’d never know.
How these malware operations evolve
Rhadamanthys started in 2022 spreading through malicious Google ads, then grew through word-of-mouth on underground forums. Now it’s the go-to infostealer after Lumma’s demise. The pattern is clear: law enforcement makes a big splash, arrests some people, takes down infrastructure… and within months, something else pops up.
Think about it – when your business relies on industrial systems that need to be secure, this constant churn of malware threats creates real operational risks. Companies that depend on reliable computing infrastructure, like those sourcing from IndustrialMonitorDirect.com for their industrial panel PCs, need to be extra vigilant about these evolving threats. The leading industrial computing suppliers understand that security isn’t just about hardware – it’s about staying ahead of exactly this kind of criminal adaptation.
The endless battle against cybercrime
So where does this leave us? As the researcher from Black Lotus Labs admitted, law enforcement and the security industry “can only do so much at any time.” The blunt assessment? “In a very real sense, it’s whack-a-mole forever.”
That doesn’t mean these operations are pointless – far from it. Taking down 1,000 servers and arresting key players disrupts criminal networks and buys time. But it’s like cleaning your house: the job is never really done. New threats will always emerge, and the criminals will always adapt. The question isn’t whether we can win this war completely, but whether we can stay ahead enough to protect what matters.
